I think a large part of the reason she doesn't get fielded very often is she's rather expensive and a well-equipped Tomb King or Liche High Priest, who are both excellent choices, will be roughly 2/3 - 3/4 of her price (respectively) - difference enough for another unit of Chariot, a scorpion, etc.

That being said, she's a very good character, I admit.

So, to answer the second part of your post, how do we make an army that's still fun for casual games? I think there's a slight implication there that Khalida is better suited for cut-throat competitive play, which I don't think is the case. Regardless, the obvious answer is to not go overboard on bowmen. 2 fairly small units (say, 12) of skeleton bowmen with blessing of the asp, then your standard assortment of Tomb King forces.

I like special characters, they are there for a reason and by the gods I'm going to be using Khalida when I can, though probably during games where a grander amount of points are in play. Khalida has a great background and I'm a sucker for the fluff.

I think Khalida is great because everyone can use her, unlike Settra where I would have to buy a whole other bunch of other units.

For friendly games I don't see the problem of fielding her, she might be great but also expensive - I would like to think it all balances out somehow. Khalida and 80 bowmen might be pushing it, but why not use her with a more reasonable amount of bowmen like grimmtu said. And besides, if you have a larger army, there's plenty of choices to go around meaning you won't have to field the exact same units every time beat the drums of war and raising the sacred icons high.

The more I read about tournament play, the more I think it deviates from 'the spirit of the game' and fun friendly games which is sad.

When I field my army, I'm going to use a coalition between High Queen Khalida's army from Lybaras, and Prince Tutankhanut from Numas, and probably use Al Muktar's Desert Dogs as 'scythans' out of numas, living servants of the golden prince. Sure, it's not legal but boy it'll be a lot of fun and fluffy :-)

Hrm...I was under the impression that based on the FAQ, Khalida counts as a Tomb King (2 incantations), plus she gets to cast the Incantation of Righteous Smiting once per magic phase that cannot be dispelled (meaning 3 total incantations). Then again, all the FAQ says is that she counts as a King, which when you consider the implications of that ruling means she does exactly what I described above.

In my limited experience, people don't like facing lists in friendly games where you just get shot off the board with little chance of retaliation...which is basically what happens in most Khalida lists. Since a vast majority of our units are extremely suspect and/or overpriced/underpowered compared to their counterparts in other armies, this is often seen as the most viable way to win games. Castle and rain arrows, catapults and the Light of Death down on your opponent until there are so few of them left that even your lowly skeletons can win combat (provided your enemy isn't ItP ). Our Skaven player purposefully "gimps" his shooting because otherwise, he could probably shoot any of us off the board except the Dwarf player with relative impunity (which would make for very boring games).

I don't engage in uber competitive play, but I would imagine its the same premise there as well. But let's face it, in a tournament environment despite her somewhat prohibitive point cost compared to a standard LHP or TK, a list based around Khalida often has the best chance of winning against some of the 7E cheese that is rampant today and people don't like to lose...especially when its against a perceived lowly army such as Tomb Kings or Ogre Kingdoms.

Our High Elf player, who by his own admission hates the ASF rule, is unafraid (read: has no real respect for) of anything in my army with three exceptions. A character-lead chariot unit, Tomb Scorpions and Khalida.

Did we ever get a clear solid (and final) answer on exactly how Khalida works? Mainly the number of incantations she gets? Seems like it's still unclear. I have a slight memory of her only getting the one smiting incantation, but now I'm unsure.

Because i did not see anything about that in the FAQ i asumed that the armybook had the final word on that ....
On the other hand ... there's nothing in the FAQ about the chariots beeing core either...
Only that Khalida counts as a king ... any assumptions after that are just that .....

The only thing I would say that is if Khalida did not function as a traditional "King" above and beyond her entry, GW should have clarified that in the FAQ. To not do so is to invite players to assume that she possesses all of the attributes of a Tomb King, plus those in her entry.

Going by RAW, she has all of the abilities/attributes of a Tomb King plus those unique to her as outlined in her entry. Trying to figure out RAI is an entirely different beast...one which I'm obviously not qualified to answer.

Going by RAW, she has all of the abilities/attributes of a Tomb King plus those unique to her as outlined in her entry. Trying to figure out RAI is an entirely different beast...one which I'm obviously not qualified to answer.

Really?

Personally i think its pretty clear. She is exactly as her profile says...
Kings have MWBD, she doesnt. Simple. She has her own incant (and the staff) instead.
She has a curse, but the rulings are different (hence it isnt called "curse" under her special rules)
Queen = King, so core chariots and skellie banner are available.

etc etc.

Overall, Khalida is amazing and probably makes for one of the best themed armies in Fantasy. Not too overpowered either... friends should be fine with you spending 500+pts on a Lord and her unit...